Thanks the Audubon article is very good and depressing. Appears that all efforts to save the AS in US. Canadaand Europe the last 30 years are not working. Was not aware of the fish farm issue, nor that they were this big here and in Europe. Situation does not look good at all.

I just happened to finish reading the Winter 2001 issue of the Atlantic Salmon Journal.
quote from the article on "Salmon Farming Debate Heating Up in Scotland", see page 29 & 30 -
- .... described the salmon farming industry as a catalogue of illegal use of chemicals, emission of effluent, mass escapes ( of genetically altered fish) and mortalities of fish far beyond anything imagined when the industry was first established".

" The estimated waste discharged from Scottish fish farms in 2000 was equivalent to almost TWICE THE ANNUAL sewage discharged by the entire Scottish population (more than 5.5 million).
The article is shocking!
There is no mention of how the Canadian or American fish farms are affecting our waters but the Audubon articles and other posts have stated some of the major issues.
My only encouragement is to continue to support the ASF and/or other similar associations who continue to fight to restore some semblance of balance between economic gains and our oceans, lakes and rivers.

The November/December issue of the magazine Fly Fishing and Fly Tying , a UK publication has an article on Atlantic Salmon in the Briticsh Isles. Technical article on why the size and quantity of AS have steadily fallen over the last 40 years. Has not been a 50 lb salmon caught in British Isles since 1969. Now a 30 lb salmon is a rare fish in the British Isles. Prior to that their records show there were 89 caught back to 1860s. Most rapid decline was from 1985 to 1997. To summarize the decrease in commericial netting at sea has not solved the problem. A recent study "The Ocean Life of the Atlantic Salmon" Derek Mills, Fishing News Books indicates that it is the Atlantic Ocean itself which is the probable cause due to the North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAOI) effect. In simple terms this measures the climate of the North Atlantic and land bordering the atlantic. The North atlantic is dominated by high atmospheric pressure in the the south (Azores High) and low pressure in the North (Icelandic Low). These vary from year to year, and tend to vary in parallel. This results in water temperature changes, colder water reduces the salmon's feeding opportunities, therefore lower size and higher mortaility while at sea. Records allowing the calculation of NAOI go back to 1860. Since the mid 1980s and the NAOI has been very high and runs of salmon very small. Hence the salmon which traditionally go to Arctic and sub arctic waters off of Iceland and Norway are subjected to lower water temperatures and food supply. The other statistics mentioned in the article (reductions of salmon forage, plankton, eels, herring, etc) also correlate with the NAOI possibly being the cause of lower returning salmon and salmon size.

Technical article which I paraphrased from. Don't know how we can warm the North Atlantic for the salmon to feed and survive.

This is a magazine you can probably pick up at your local Borders store. Has some good British Isle fly fishing information on trout, salmon, saltwater which I pick up peridically.

Just heard that we had another 8,000 AS. escape from pens on the coast. This is just another nail inthe demise of our native stocks. We need to get these salmon farms onto dry land to get rid off all the problems associated with sea pen rearing.

My .02 saltron Heard to-day Mon Jan 7 same company different location that they have had another escapment of over100,000 AS. Just give us time and we will kill of the natives

They probably have died off, the AS appears to be a very fragile fish to adverse environmental conditions, they were once native to Lake Ontario. They have been trying to rebuild the Ontario AS runs, as well as stock them in other great lakes for the last 100 years with out much success. Michigan has been trying to stock them since the 1970s but they do not take well. They stocked them in the PM several times with out success. I always hoped I might hit an AS but never did,very few ever caught in the river as far as I know. They have caught some big survivors out in the lake while deep trolling but no sustainable runs have really developed.

Hi Sean and Pm
That is what our government and the exponents of fish farming would like us to believe but these fish are alive and well in the wild and appear to be in some insatances on the spawning beds with the natives. The damage that can occur from this industry is recognized by some but it would appeare that it is ignored by government at this time.
We have the prolem in BC. and who is to say that these fish wont migrate to Washington Or Alasaka.